It’s funny, to me, at least, to see how the public perception about John Beilein has changed in the past 12 months. His resignation was an abrupt and ugly one, but I always sensed the people who were mad at him most were most mad because it was hard to be mad at the guy…if that makes any sense.

What I mean to say is that he was a really likable guy who was adored for winning and the way he won. He was a source of pride and to lose him and to learn of the way he exited was hard to accept because many just didn’t see it coming and certainly didn’t want it to happen. Then there’s the contingent, and a rather sizable one at that, that was tired of the way he was always looking around for the next job and was frankly relieved when he found one.

And so it was that he was disliked, to put it mildly, for quite some time and both groups took great pleasure in his struggles this season at the University of Michigan. The tide turned somewhere along, and I’m only guessing here, but I believe it has something to do with the way Rich Rodriguez’s departure to U-M has mushroomed into the quintessential coach-college breakup. Don’t get me wrong. People are still mad about Beilein, but the presence and the success of Bob Huggins — with Beilein’s players — has tempered that anger and the constant shenanigans of Team Rodriguez has by and large overshadowed that anger.

I think there’s at least a mild respect, at least in retrospect now, for the way Beilein conducted himself. He didn’t wage his buyout battle in the public — it was quite hard to get any information from him or his attorney on the matter — and he didn’t drag the process along while dragging WVU in the gutter. It was, by comparison, a tidy little tryst. That’s worth something, right?

Oh, and he made his first buyout payment on time and included with it a kindly worded letter that offers to help WVU President Mike Garrison handle buyout business in the future.

“I have not had the pleasure of getting to know you on a personal basis but would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues with you. I have learned a lot over the past three years regarding this matter and have some thoughts that I believe would be beneficial to all concerned.”